Netflix’s German action-thriller Exterritorial follows Sara Wulf, a former Special Forces soldier, who goes to the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt with her young son Josh for visa paperwork—then watches him vanish, only to be told by staff and “records” that Josh was never there.
The film’s tension comes from that gaslighting setup: Sara has trauma, the consulate is treated as extraterritorial space, and the evidence keeps getting rewritten to make her look unstable.
What really happened to Sara’s son, Josh
Josh was real, and he was taken. The disappearance wasn’t a hallucination or a “twist that he never existed.” Exterritorial reveals that Regional Security Officer Erik Kynch, working with Sergeant Donovan and other corrupt players inside the consulate, abducted Josh and then manipulated entry logs and surveillance footage to make it appear Sara arrived alone.
By the end, Josh is found alive—hidden inside a concealed storage area behind shelving—leading to a reunion with Sara.
The ending twist and why Kynch targeted Sara
Kynch’s plan isn’t just “kidnap a kid.” He uses Sara as the perfect scapegoat: a frantic mother with a documented medical history, tearing through a secure building creates chaos and distraction, while also giving him cover to remove obstacles.
The deeper motive ties back to Sara’s past and another key figure. Kynch is linked to an earlier overseas incident and fears Sara as a surviving witness, and the conspiracy also intersects with Kira (also known as Irina), who holds incriminating evidence.
In other words: Josh’s kidnapping is leverage and misdirection—engineered to control Sara and protect Kynch and his network.
How Sara exposes the truth
The finale turns on a confession and a recording. Sara forces Kynch into admitting what he did, then uses a hidden recorder (connected to Kynch’s daughter) to capture his words. Even after Kynch tries to stage the scene in his favor, the recording blows up the cover story: Sara is cleared, and Kynch (along with Donovan and accomplices) is taken into custody.
The closing scenes jump ahead to show Sara recovering and preparing to start a new life with Josh, with the film signaling that she’s finally regaining control over the trauma that’s haunted her.
